The present invention relates in general to material transport cars, and, more particulary, to hopper-type cars.
Hopper cars are commonly used to transport fluent material such as dry product. Dry products transported in this manner include flour, cement, sugar, starch, and the like. Some of these products must be highly fluidized to facilitate the unloading thereof, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,261 discloses a fluidization device.
Even with fluidization, some quantity of material remains in the car after the completion of a discharge process. In some cases, this quantity of remaining material can be quite significant, for example, several hundred pounds or residue of material is possible. This residue is most often found near the periphery of the hopper, and in the case of a side located outlet, in a location remote from that outlet. Even fluidization does not clear out such residue from prior art cars.
Accordingly, there is need for a device which will assure the nearly complete discharge of material from a hopper car, and reduce the amount of residue to insignificant, and possibly zero, levels.